Your book has been published! Congratulations!!… and yet, that is still only half the battle: distributing it to readers! Self-publishing means no traditional marketing muscle, so indie authors must find other ways to create buzz and support book sales. A blog tour is one of the most powerful promotion tools you can use to connect with readers, grow your audience and generate traction for your book. Today, we will look at the strategies to help you plan and execute a successful blog tour for your next book release as well as why hiring professional review services can skyrocket your promotional pushes.
What is a Blog Tour?
A blog tour is a program of events whereby authors move around the various authorised book-based blogs for1-2 weeks promoting their new title. These “visits” might be interviews, guest posts, book reviews, excerpts or even give-aways. The point is to leverage each bloggers reader base already established and get more of those readers interested in your book while generating incremental online buzz.
Why Do Self-Published Authors Need A Blog Tour?
If you are a self-published author, then:
More Visibility: Being on more blogs means your book has the opportunity to be seen by a wider audience.
Develop Author Platform: Blog tours can help you to become a voice of authority and relationships within your genre or subject.
Book Reviews: Bloggers may do reviews of your book that can then be repurposed into marketing.
Sell more books: This translates to drive sales, as plain visibility for you book can mean readers are reading and that they will purchase your fiction novel.
How to Organise a Blog Tour Step by Step
Putting together a fruitful blog tour takes work so… It might be worth it. In this case we want to guide you step by step on how arrange your very own blog tour.
- Visit Book Blogs in Your Niche
The first things you should do is find book blogs that are reading books in your genre. These are the bloggers who will most appreciate your book and whose followers are more likely to ultimately be synergistic with yours. Some of the ways to discover book bloggers are:
On Google, type in: romance book blogs or mystery book bloggers.
Scouring the likes of Book Sirens or Reedsy..
Joining the Goodreads groups or forums for specific books where bloggers hang out.
Compile a list of 20-30 blogs that focus on your genre. The more niche blogs may not have the greatest number of readers out there, but they tend to have loyal followers.
- Create a Compelling Pitch
After you have created a list, it is time to reach out the bloggers with customized, thoughtful pitch. In your email, include:
The Primer: Tell us about yourself and your book
Your tour plan: Write that you are hosting a blog on their site per se and would like them to be part of it.
Information on the actual material: Provide multiple points you are willing to share with them; an author interview, guest blog post, snippet or review. Offer your bloggers options, but cater them to match the kind of content they usually end up posting.
A press kit: Include a media or press kit with your book cover, author bio and some links (social media platform links/website/purchase pages)
Make your email short and polite, and follow up if after a week or even ten days there is no reply.
- Plan the Content for the Tour
When you have the bloggers secured for your tour, then it gets into content planning and arranging. This might include:
For Someone Else: Guest Posts (3-5)–Independent blog posts in your area of writing, perhaps about specific topics related to the book or a facet of the way you write.
Interviews Have prepared answers to common questions or work with bloggers for custom interviews.
Excerpts From Your Book: Select interesting excerpts from your book which tells one thing to the readers.
Festival goodies can include free copies of your book or related merchandise in exchange for social media promotion and email sign-ups.
However, don’t repeat the same content blog after blog but rather find different ways to keep it fresh and interested for those following along from tour site to tour site.
- Schedule the Tour
After the content is prepared, it is time to plan and book the tour. Communicate with each blogger when your post / review will be live on this given date. Make an in-depth schedule that records when and where every post has been scheduled.
Use your own channels (blog, newsletter and social media) to promote the tour and get more traffic on the blogs where posts are uploaded. You could also make an exclusive blog tour banner or graphic to use in your promos.
How Important are Professional Book Reviews on your Blog Tour?
Professional Book Reviews are one of the best tools you can add to your blog tour arsenal. Here’s why:
- Credibility and Authority
The fact that a professional reviewer of repute took the effort to review your book adds value. It tells bloggers and readers that your work is excellent enough for them to invest their time in. Having been reviewed by credible entities is more likely to spur many bloggers on your sweet blog tour.
- Boost Blog Engagement
If you include professional reviews in your tour, it could potentially make an impact that leads to conversations and engagement. Bloggers can quote from the review in their blog posts or promotional campaign so that when they mention reviewing your book on my website, it is a click back to Sample Book. Well-written professional reviews can hold a lot of water with readers too, so including excerpts or pull quotes from one in your book description will work some subtle magic on the unsure.
- Increase Discoverability
Professionally written book reviews frequently appear on popular websites like Kirkus, San Francisco Book Review and Chicago Book Review which will raise the visibility of your titles. By sharing these reviews during your blog tour, you can reach a wider range of readers and get some discoverability boost for your book. If a debut novel, have bloggers weave these reviews into their tour content.
- Strengthen Social Proof
The more reviews — both pro and reader feedback — the more “social proof” your book has. This draws to an prospective buyer that the book has a lot going for it, and they should buy it too. Here, professional reviews remain one of the gold standards.
The Final Word On A Great Blog Tour.
An intelligently laid out blog tour can act as the pillar of your promotional strategy. You can get your book in front of the right eyes, and create valuable relationships with readers by contacting targeted book blogs, sharing compelling content posts and utilizing expert reviews. The secret is to be organized, creative and consistent. Don’t forget to promote each stop in your tour and interact with readers who participate. Happy touring!